Systems and Methods for Event Networking and Media Sharing

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates generally to photography and imaging, telecommunications, social media, and event networking in a variety of fields including sports and other community events, personal events, and other occasions in which the sharing of information and media is desirable. More particularly, the invention relates to the use of various communications protocols and platforms in order to distribute information through a network to enable users to interact and communicate with like-minded users, as well as to enable the creation and purchasing of items and customized products.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No.12/849,780, filed Aug. 3, 2010. The entire teachings of the aboveapplication(s) are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to photography and imaging,telecommunications, social media, and event networking in a variety offields including sports and other community events, personal events, andother occasions in which the sharing of information and media isdesirable. More particularly, the invention relates to the use ofvarious communications protocols and platforms in order to distributeinformation through a network to enable users to interact andcommunicate with like-minded users, as well as to enable the creationand purchasing of items and customized products.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Social networking through the internet has exploded of late due to theinternet's inherent ability to permit communication among users. Variousstandard protocols have allowed for information and resource exchangethrough email, bulletin boards, chat rooms, and the like, for manyyears, however, more recent advances in mobile technology now permitpeople to exchange information via their mobile phones and tablets thatheretofore could take place only while sitting at a desktop, laptop, ornotebook computer.

Web-based networking now exists in the form of such sites as MySpace®,Facebook®, LinkedIn®, Twitter®, Pinterest®, Instagram®, and many others.In such networking sites, users generally join, provide such details ascontact information, and optionally include information related to avariety of interests. The sites maintain all information of all users incentral servers operably connected to databases, such that users canfind each other, establish links to each other, and establishcommunities of users.

Some social networking sites provide the ability to search for friends,i.e., other users which may already be known to a particular user, orother users who share some commonality in education, employment, orother fields of interest. Users may interact with such friends byposting information to each other's pages maintained on the site, byjoining in community interactions such as those provided by applicationson sites such as Facebook® or through direct message services and emailclients such as those offered by both Facebook and Twitter.

Some online services offer forums for communication between communitiesof users or in a one to many broadcast format. These services includemessage boards, email lists, chat rooms, personal home pages, web logsor blogs and tweets. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,366,962 and6,363,427. These services provide a forum where profiles or messages areviewed by a specific individual, the general public, or the entiremembership of a specific defined group.

These types of forums allow visibility to multiple members of a group;however, they typically are not based on events or social networks, butrather on broader interests, such as a particular hobby or sport.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,519,629 discloses, among other things, a system designedto distribute, initiate and allow interaction and communication withinlike-minded communities of users.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,618,593 discloses a system designed to “match” usersusing their mobile phones, which may use location and other informationto determine such matching.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,047,202 discloses, among other things, a method andapparatus for users to search networks, both their own network and theirpeers' networks, all under the umbrella of what the inventors thereincall a “multiple level access” security system.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,069,308 discloses, among other things, a networkingsystem wherein descriptive data and relationship data are integrated andprocessed to reveal a series of social relationships connecting any twousers within a social network.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,305,233 discloses, among other things, a system whereinimages are uploaded to a central server, which system permits printingand delivery of such images.

US Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0065741 discloses, amongother things, a system wherein images selected by a user may beuploaded, and cards with selected images may be distributed to selectedrecipients.

In the general field of sports, for example, there are many websites ofgeneral interest, such as news organizations, and there are thosededicated to the field, which provide a variety of information, such asscores, text descriptions, video clips, photos of games, etc. There arealso sites which provide users with games, such as fantasy football,hosted by the site and existing only in cyberspace. Information on localevents may be found on the websites for local municipalities, newsorganizations, sports leagues, etc.

Notwithstanding the myriad sites available for accessing information,none to date provide the ability for users to share media obtained at asporting event, in real time, such that all users participating in alive event, and those who only take interest at some later time, haveaccess to the combined media from all participants in a customizablemanner. The advent of mobile devices capable of reaching the internet,GPS, and audiovisual recording has made it possible to recordinformation at an event and have it be uploaded to a server inessentially real-time. The newest mobile devices, such as the iPhone®,Android®, and Blackberry®, are particularly suitable for the purposes ofthe present invention because they are capable of having applicationsinstalled which directly interface with the website servers contemplatedby the invention.

No existing methods take advantage of this ability to provide allsimilarly situated users a shared, continuously updated community viewof an event. Nor do they provide the ability to create hard-copy recordsand images of such events including images originally captured by otherusers, obtainable merely by ordering same, whether during the event,immediately thereafter, or any time after the event has completed. Nordo they provide an ability to offer or suggest products or advertisingto these same users which is relevant and related to a particular event.The art is in need of such systems and event-based networking tools.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to overcome the drawbacks of the priorart. The present invention provides the ability not only to generatecommunities of users, but also to aggregate such communities of users'images enabling the sharing and distribution of such media (photos,video, audio, and the like) to all the users thereof. Each user maychoose to share all or only a selection of media captured, while theaggregate for any particular event is available to all users. Each enduser of the system of the invention generally creates and manages his orher own page, accessible by logging into the system via the internet, inwhich page the user collects a variety of events selected from thosegenerally available to all users, as well as those created by eachindividual user. Thus, in one aspect of the invention, the system itselfprovides and updates a database of events accessible to all users, suchas professional sporting events, real estate listings from real estatecompanies, product offerings from image finishing companies, retailers,and other commercial retail companies. Advertising on each user's pagemay be customizably placed, tailored to a user's selected fields ofinterest as identified by such user's choices of events, prior viewingor purchasing habits and other markers gained through application ofpredictive intelligence.

For example, many a fan has attended a big game, and hoped to leave witha beautiful image of his favorite player, or a key shot of the action.But all too often the fan leaves with little more than a handful ofshots, perhaps a few “keepers”, all taken at roughly the same angle anddistance from the object(s) of interest. If the fans could easily shareall their images, the number of keepers would increase, and theprobability of capturing the action shot rises as well. The presentinvention promotes the collection of a wide variety of images fromdifferent angles and perspectives, and presents users with the abilityto create photographic products they would otherwise be unable to obtainanywhere else.

The present invention also allows the offering and creation of productstailored and customized for end users. The present invention begins withfeatures commonly found in social networking applications, but adds theability to aggregate the images captured by the entire community ofusers, and of purchasing customized products such as T-shirts,enlargements of images, and other items as further described below.These products may be derived from the user's own images uploaded duringthe event, but also may be derived from other users of the system, asthey too are uploading images during the event.

In one aspect, the invention provides a system for event networkingcomprising a server having an event database of events, the eventshaving a time window and a GPS location. The system has a plurality ofusers with access to the event database, and the system aggregates mediauploaded by the users at an event into an event page. The event iscontrollably accessible to users such that the images in an event pageare viewable by all users having access thereto.

In another aspect, the system aggregates media based on parametersincluding the time window and the GPS location of the media, which maybe images, video, and audio.

The time window may be specified with a start time and an end time, orwith a start time and duration, or with an end time and duration. TheGPS location is defined by GPS coordinates and a proximity envelopearound the GPS coordinates, such that the GPS location encompasses allGPS coordinates within the envelope. The proximity envelope may be acircle with a radius having a specified length, or may be irregular,being defined by the path through time of an event. Events may beentered into the event database by an operator of the system, or may becreated by the users. The users have the ability to customize their homepages, which show the events to which the user is subscribed, or asubset thereof. Additional events may populate users' pages as providedby the system, such as targeted advertising, and events suggested by thesystem for each user.

These and other objects are achieved through the present invention asexemplified and further described in the Detailed Description of theInvention below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic cartoon of an embodiment of the inventionillustrating the network architecture and structure of the system.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating general use of an embodimentof the system named PicPocket™ including, among other things, eventcreation.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating general use of an embodimentof the system named PicPocket™ including, among other things, imagecapture and upload to the system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The routine features of the implementations described herein are knownto those of skill in the art and are therefore not shown and described.It will, of course, be appreciated that in the development of any suchactual implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions mustbe made in order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such ascompliance with application- and business-related constraints, and thatthese specific goals will vary from one implementation to another andfrom one developer to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated thatsuch a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but wouldnevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those ofordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

By “social network” it is meant an aggregation of individual socialrelationships, out to any number of degrees of separation. By “user” itis meant an individual who has registered in the system. By “system” or“website” it is meant a computer system that serves informationalcontent over a network using the standard protocols of the World WideWeb. As used herein, the term is generally intended to encompass both(i) the hardware/software server components that serve the informationalcontent over the network, and (ii) the “back end” hardware/softwarecomponents, including any non-standard or specialized components, thatinteract with the server components to perform services for websiteusers. The terms “image” and “media” generally include still images,video, audio, and combinations thereof.

Unlike other internet and web-based social networking systems, theadvantages of the present invention are found in its ability not only togenerate communities of users, but to aggregate images and other media,and information provided by a plurality of users in the community suchthat each user has access to a much larger collection of such images andinformation than that captured individually by each particular user. Theusers at an event may already be connected to each other, or may simplybe co-participants at the event.

The system is also optionally adaptable to offer products comprisingprofessionally enhanced images, tailored and customized for the endusers and communities. Just as with known social networking systems,users may “meet” and interact via the website produced by the system.Thus, email, chat, bulletin boards, blogs, Sharing, Favoriting, Likes,Rating, Commenting and other typical forms of social networking arecontemplated. The system may use information gathered about users anduser behavior to create a recommendation engine that will suggestcontent and products that might be of particular interest to any givenuser. For example, if it is recognized that, in general, users who likephotos of hikers also like photos of rock climbers, the system mayinform a user who is viewing an event about hiking that the user mightalso like an event about rock climbing, and provide a link to such anevent.

Another approach to making intelligent recommendations is to identifyusers who have similar viewing and voting patterns and makerecommendations based on what other similarly situated users have liked.For example, if a user A and user B have both liked many of the sameevents, but user B has liked some events that user A has not voted on,the system might recommend some of user B's liked events to user A.

The system may use this same recommendation engine to help determinewhich products and advertisements appear on a particular user's orevent's page. For example, if user A has liked several events near orabout the Eiffel Tower, the system might recommend to user A a bookabout France or an advertisement for a Paris hotel even though the useris currently viewing an event that has nothing to do with France.

The system may also track in real time which products users are clickingon and use this data to help determine which products are beingrecommended for purchase. For example, if product X is suddenly gettinga burst in its click through rate, the system will detect this increaseand adjust the product recommendation algorithm so product X isdisplayed more often.

The present invention also adds the ability of purchasing products suchas T-shirts, enlargements of images, and other items as furtherdescribed below. Such products include the typical items one couldpurchase at a sporting event, but more importantly the productsavailable to users of the system are products employing the collectivecommunity of users' images. Thus, the present invention allows for theproduction of customized products with enhanced images to be produced,sold, and delivered to users in a manner heretofore unavailable.

The System Hardware

In accordance with the present invention, the hardware and softwarecomponents, process steps, and/or data structures may be implementedusing various types of operating systems, computing platforms, computerprograms, and/or general purpose machines. In addition, those ofordinary skill in the art will recognize that devices of a less generalpurpose nature, such as hardwired devices, field programmable gatearrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or thelike, may also be used without departing from the scope and spirit ofthe inventive concepts disclosed herein. The present invention isgenerally described in relation to distribution of information via anetwork connection. For example, the back-end database may be housed ata remote location on any suitable computer hardware, with operable linksto the front-end computer hardware, which ultimately serves informationto, and collects information from, end users of the system of theinvention. Such hardware is now well known, and any suitable system maybe employed, such as the hardware described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,069,308,the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated by reference in itsentirety. Furthermore, parts of the system are also in communicationwith other service providers, over the internet, such that, for example,digital image files may be sent to such service providers for output onhardcopy, such as prints.

As shown in FIGS. 1-3, illustrating embodiments of the invention, thesystem architecture utilizes Linux or other operating systems running onIntel Xeon or similar processors. The architecture employs multiple nodeweb application clusters for high availability and scalability. Theimages captured and uploaded by the users are stored in a high speedfile store or network store or cloud data store for easy storage andretrieval operations. The architecture also employs high availabilityproxy or load balancer for fail over and fault tolerance capabilities.The content delivery network may cache previously delivered content forfaster access by users. User information events, photos, preferences,and other elements of the system are typically stored in an RDBMS(relational database management system). The mobile app employed by thesystem also may use image enhancement, social network integration (e.g.,with Facebook and others) and taxonomy management to provide a rich userexperience.

Image Capture Devices

The invention may be practiced with a variety of suitable devices, suchas Apple's iPhone®, RIM's Blackberry®, Android® phones, and otherso-called “smart” phones. However, any mobile device capable ofcapturing images could be used. For example, it is contemplated thatother devices include laptop computers with built in cameras, “netbook”computers with cameras, simple camera phones, tablets, digital cameras,digital SLR cameras, etc. Film/slide cameras may also be included asdevices useful for the system, provided that users upload digitizedversions of such images following film processing.

In another embodiment, a device for use in the system may be designedspecifically for use in the system, such that it is capable of at leastimage capture, but optionally also capable of interfacing with thesystem via a network, whether using a traditional browser or a customapplication or app specifically designed for the purpose of implementingthe event networking system of the invention.

Users may view events on their computers, mobile devices, and even ontelevisions. Output to television is possible by direct connection orwireless connection from a computer, but also such devices and systemssuch as TiVo®, Roku®, AppleTV® and the like may be adapted with customchannels capable of interfacing with the system of the invention suchthat users may view events directly on their televisions.

Registration and Events

In outline, the system of the invention operates as follows. Usersregister with the system via a website, or as prompted upon launching anapplication on their mobile device, at which they provide basicinformation including name and address, billing information, and thelike. Also at the time of registration, or any time thereafter, usersmay identify and select classes of events and/or particular eventsand/or particular users they would like to follow. Such identificationcan be performed through searchable lists of events provided by thesystem based on correlation with the user's geographic location asspecified by the user. Users may register at home from the desktop, fromwhich they may provide this location and selection information directlyon a registration page. Alternatively, they may supply certaininformation, such as GPS information, via the user's mobile interfacingapplication, such as an application residing on an iPhone® or Androiddevice. Selection of event classes and particular events may occur atany time post-registration as well. Users may also select events thatare not already presented in the database through an “add-event” stylepage accessed from the website or the application on the device.

Events include professional and other major sports team games, such asthose of the National Football League, Major League Baseball, theNational Hockey League, the National Basketball Association, the UnitedStates Tennis Association, and others, both domestic and foreign.Additionally, a variety of other national league sports teams, minorleague sports teams, college sports teams, and games of local teams suchas intramural and intermural teams, and little league teams are amenableto the system. In one embodiment, the event is a concert, show, or otherpublic performance. More and more municipalities have cameras installedwhich would be capable for use in the system. Thus, other municipal andlocal events, such as parades, town fairs, and the like may beconsidered events. Additional other events are also included in theinvention, including unscheduled events, such as on-scene images of alocal fire. Essentially any event for which images can be captured canbe shared using the system of the invention, because images thereof willbe viewable, and purchasable, by registered users or organizations.

Once an event or class of events is selected, the user's page on thesite (whether viewed directly over the internet in a browser or in amobile application interface) will update with information aboutupcoming events. For a fan of a particular team, for example, upcominggames will be displayed on the user's page, as well as relatedinformation from the sport, with access to other teams, scores, etc.

In one embodiment of the invention, the system provides a global list ofevents presented from a database collected by operators of the system.For example, all major sporting events from professional sports may beadded to a user's page. The system collects images from all usersuploading images from each event, such that any user that has chosenthat event may view all the images collected for that event by alluser's attending that event. Each attendee may choose to have all imagesuploaded, or may specify particular images to be uploaded.

The system may implement a checking operation by which all imagesuploaded for an event are checked to ensure that the GPS coordinates(and time and date) for the image are within the area in which the eventis taking place. This checking operation prevents images that were notactually taken at the event from appearing in the event's page. In thecase of digital SLR images that are captured without any GPS meta data,the system may use a method whereby a user establishes their bona fidesby checking-in to the event which then could be deemed to satisfy therequirements for a photo being considered for inclusion within anevent's event page.

In addition to sporting events, the events of governmental entities suchas states, counties, and municipalities may be provided globally by thesystem. For example, state fairs, county fund-raising events, and atown's music festival are all events which may be available to users ofthe system. Indeed, any event generally known to the public may be addedby the operators of the system, enabling users to “attend” the event byadding it to their pages; those that attend may upload images to theaggregated image collection for that event, while those who were unableto attend will also be able to view images from the event by simplyadding it to their page.

Each user may also create personal customized events. For example, auser having a birthday party for a child may create an event for theparty, and notify attendees that are also users of the system that theevent is available. Attendees who at the time of the party are not usersof the system would have the ability to download the app from the AppleiTunes or Google Play stores (or other sources of apps) and enter apasscode which grants them access to the event should it be restricted.All images taken at such an event are then aggregated as describedherein, and all attendees may then view all the images of the event. Theuser creating the event is provided with tools to control sharing andaccess by other user's to such “owned” events.

GPS may also be coupled with date and time information to be used toautomatically collect images for an event even when users have notspecifically directed images to a previously defined event. For example,all images uploaded to the system which fall within a specified radiusof an unknown event may be classified and collected as related to anevent taking place at such location, the definition of the event beingprovided once details are known about the event. For example, a fire, ora traffic accident, may generate uploads of images within a discreteradius and within a discrete period of time. The system may be providedwith an algorithm that recognizes such spontaneous concentrations ofimages, and operators of the system may be alerted to suchconcentrations, such that the event may be classified and made availableto users of the system. Conversely, after an event is known to haveoccurred at a certain location on a certain date and time, the system isalso be provided with an algorithm that actively searches for imagecontent with particular metadata indicating coincidence with the event.

In an additional embodiment, GPS allows for the creation of persistentyet dynamically updating events. For example, all images taken in aparticular neighborhood may be aggregated as an event entitled with thename of such neighborhood. Residents and visitors, and those consideringmoving to the neighborhood, may have interest in such “events” and maychoose to browse or retain such events on their pages. Each user's pagemay be provided with a map, or a link to a map, in which the user maysimply select a geographic location and specify a radius to see allevents taking place or that have taken place in such area, includingsuch persistent neighborhood events. It will be appreciated that thismay be of particular interest to a real estate application where a homepurchase decision is driven as much by the community and neighborhoodone is buying into as it is the home or property itself.

Images may also appear in more than one event. For example, an imageappearing in a neighborhood event may also have been taken at the timeof a sporting event, in which case it may appear in both events, and maybe linkable to both events.

Location based events have been described using a radius within whichall images uploaded are considered to be part of a discrete event.However, the ability to customize a geographic location usingintelligent boundary drawing, rather than a simple center and radiusaround such center, is also envisaged to be part of the invention. Thus,users may draw freeform geographic boundaries on a map in order todefine regions of interest as they browse events. This is particularlyuseful when the region under examination is not a circle—for example, aneighborhood may be largely rectangular or oddly shaped. Such ability toconstruct boundaries allows users to customize areas of interest. Thisis particularly useful when the event itself has irregularly shapedboundaries, for example, the New York City Marathon, and the Macy'sThanksgiving Day Parade.

Events need not be added to a user's page permanently—users may browseevents by searching using a search engine embedded in the system,thereby enabling viewing of events on an ad hoc basis rather thanincluding the event on the user's page itself Those events of interest,however, may be added to the user's page at any time.

Implementation of tailored directed advertising is suitable for use inthe invention. For example, a user considering moving to a neighborhoodmight begin on the system by selecting the location on a map, setting aradius for the neighborhood, and viewing the aggregated images for thatneighborhood. But on that neighborhood event page a real estate companyhaving listings for homes in the neighborhood may have an advertisementthat appears on such a page, offering the user lists of homes as well asimages of each home.

In one embodiment, for example, a real-estate company with access toinformation relating to properties for sale or lease, may also createcustomizable dashboard views which load homes and properties of interestby any number of customizable and potentially pre-set groupings such as‘neighborhood’, ‘price range’ or ‘distance from’ selected points ofinterest such as schools, parks, hospitals, restaurants or shoppingdistricts.

In another embodiment, advertising for products may also appear in thepages of events themselves. Thus, on an event page for an NFL footballgame, among the images taken by users, professional photographers, andthe stadium operators, there may be similarly sized images which link topurchase pages for products such as hats, shirts, photos and the likefor the teams playing in that event or any other products which aresomewhat related to the category of event itself (i.e. a football, lawnchairs, coolers, etc.).

In another embodiment, the system is capable of creating “landmark”events. For example, a landmark such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris,France may be provided as an event which shows images taken within adesirable distance of the landmark regardless of the time at which theimage was captured. Users can use an iPad, for example, to create a“photo frame” that updates every time a new photo comes in. Use a user'sphoto and event votes to deliver targeted ads. (e.g., where a user hasliked several photos of the Eiffel Tower, show them an ad for a bookabout Paris, or a poster, or a trip to France).

Landmark based photo aggregation would allow users to createpersonalized “channels” that would display a constantly updating streamof photos of a specific landmark. For example a user who likes photos ofthe Brooklyn Bridge could create a “Brooklyn Bridge” channel and use atablet device such as an iPad or their computer to create a digitalphoto frame which would show them an ever-changing view of a theirfavorite landmark. The user could adjust settings on their “channel” toonly show Brooklyn Bridge photos taken by friends, or only those takenwithin 500 feet of the bridge, or only those taken at night, or anycombination of a number of other configurable options. Users will havethe ability to share their personalized “channels” with other users.

For landmark events, then, the system of the invention enablesformatting of such content such that its delivery to a wireless pictureframe, big screen display/television, smart phone or tablet could serveas a means or form of live entertainment. Which events or landmarks anindividual chooses for such service could drive all manners of targetedadvertising.

Events entered in the database are provided with a set of parameters,including, for example:

event_id Identifies the event uniquely. user_id Identifies the user whocreated the event. session_id User session identifier for which theevent is created. name Name of the event. Description Description of theevent. Cover Cover photo identifier of the event. meta_lat Latitude ofthe event center. meta_long Longitude of the event center. radius Radiusof the event for associating photos to the event in miles. start_dtStart date of the event. end_dt End date of the event. event_access_typeIdentifies whether the event is public or private. create_dt Thedatabase record created date. update_dt The database record updateddate. event_status_code status of event (completed, drafted, active,etc). permission event photo access permission for others.

Additional parameters may be added to events. For example, for eventswith irregular GPS boundaries for which a simple radius around GPScoordinates is not appropriate, a parameter can be added which specifiesthe nature of the route of the event and an associated width aroundwhich images should be considered part of the event. Those of skill inthe art will appreciate that other parameters may be associated withevents.

Embodiments of the invention span a wide variety of endeavors, coveringmany aspects of modern day life. Images captured at any and all eventsare potentially available to all users of the system, tailored andcustomized to the users' preferences.

Image Collection

When a user attends an event, the user may take images with her phone'scamera, and upload the images to the system. Many mobile phones todayinclude location information in tags of digital images, and thisinformation allows the system to not only verify the origin location ofthe image, but also permits correlation of other users' images uploadedfrom the same event. Indeed, with improving GPS accuracy, the locationof the uploading user may be identified to a specific seat when comparedwith a map of the stadium or arena in which the game is being played.The system of the invention contemplates not only a web-basedinteraction with the network system, accessible via browsers on desktopand mobile devices, but also custom applications designed for use oncomputers and on mobile devices, the latter commonly known as “apps”.Such custom applications interface with the camera on the device as wellas the back end system, and may be designed to provide featuresunavailable to a web-based browser.

The particular location of events may provide additional opportunitiesfor image collection, as stadiums and arenas may be equipped withcameras capable of being pointed at desired locations throughout theevent. For example, the system of the invention contemplates contractingwith such venues to provide access by the system to such cameras (orinstalling them for the venue for use by the system of the invention),such that images of users may be obtained by pointing the cameras to theusers' known seat location, as provided by their GPS information.Alternatively, seat information may be provided by the user directly viatheir device. If necessary to help pinpoint the location of the user,maps of venues may be stored as a database in the system, which therebywill be able to direct cameras of venues to the correct location tocollect images of the users, and upload them to the system.

Another source of images is professional photographers, who may becontracted for their services or may be freelance. In either event, suchphotographers may take images of the event and upload to the system.Additionally, such photographers may be provided with locationinformation for registered users, in which case they may take images ofsuch users, and upload them to the system. These images, which may betagged with location information, may also be supplied by thephotographer with information regarding particular users' locationswhich were photographed, such that the images will be available beavailable to each user. Different levels of privacy and security havebeen contemplated to limit the sharing of such photos with only thoseindividuals who pay for those services.

The system then is enabled to allow registered users to have access toeach other's images, thereby providing each user with a variety ofangles on the action. Video (and audio) media is also contemplated asbeing included for use in the system. When a game concludes, the userhas the ability to view her own images and/or listen to his audio files,or those of other users who attended the game and uploaded media to thesystem. Additionally, users may be presented with images taken by thevenue's own cameras, or by professional photographers present at theevent. Further, as discussed more fully below, because the system is incommunication with other service providers, the user may choose topurchase digitally optimized and/or enhanced versions of any of thoseimages by indicating such desire to purchase on the mobile application'sinterface.

Uploading to the system may be performed in any way capable oftransferring images from a device to the system. For example, mobilephones ordinarily provide network connections via HSDPA, GSM, GPRS,EDGE, EVDO, CDMA, OFDMA and the like. Any of these protocols is suitablefor transfer of images, and are thus useful transfer mechanisms.Additionally, WiFi is available on many devices, including many mobilephones, and generally provides a faster transfer mechanism for uploadingimages. Images may also be transferred after an event, for example, whena user transfers images from an image capture device to a computer whichthen employs its ordinary internet connection (WiFi, ethernet, etc.) totransfer images to the system.

Inclusion of images captured with a DSLR (digital SLR) camera or othersource hardware that does not have GPS capabilities may also be enabledby the system. A variety of methods are suitable to verify theauthenticity of such images. For example, a user may launch the system'sapp on a smartphone while at an event. The app may be provided with ameans to have a user register as present at that event, for example, byproviding a button to generally register for the event or even toregister for the specific purpose of uploading from a non-GPS enableddevice. Activating such a means for registration informs the system toexpect that user will have images to upload from their account to thesame event, which have not been GPS verified. When verifyingauthenticity for system-wide events, a user must still have been presentat the event and “checked in” or “registered” in order to be permittedto upload photos and then subsequently link them to said public event.The photos may be flagged as not being GPS verified/authenticated;however, until someone from the community flags them as not belonging,they will be considered every bit as bonafide as an image uploaded withproperly GPS stamped .exif data. The system has the ability to allowthose who wish to see only verified images to filter those that are notfully verified from view.

The system of the invention also permits the use of information aboutthe direction from which images were captured. In a mapping app (such asGoogleMaps or others) view, the use of vectors to show to users not onlywhere the photo was taken, but in what direction the camera was facingwhen the photo was captured could be provided. Such information is alsouseful for photo-stitching, as well as the ability to identify eventswithin events (for example, a fistfight breaking out in the stadiumstands.) Thus, the system enables aggregation of images that were takenfrom a particular location (e.g., section 102, row F, seat 21) but alsophotos that were taken from anywhere in the portion of a stadium facingleft field, or the pitcher's mound, or the goal posts, or thecheerleaders section, etc.

On the same mapping view, in another embodiment of the invention, a userdrags a positional marker to assist sorting photos by proximity. Whenthe marker is at a particular position, only photos captured within aspecifiable distance of the marker are shown or highlighted, withadditional images being further sorted by distance from the marker.

In another embodiment, the system may include a car mounted camera thatcaptures images of the road and the driver at a defined interval, anduploads them to the server. If a car had this system installed and anaccident were to occur, photos taken just prior to the accident mayprove valuable in determining the cause and nature of the accident. Hadthose same photos been stored only on the device itself, they may havebeen destroyed in the accident. Additionally, if such a system-equippedcar were ever stolen, photos of the thief and the surrounding area couldaid in the recovery of the car as well as in the prosecution of thecrime. Had the photos been stored only on the device, as opposed tosafely on the server, these photos would most likely be destroyed beforethe car was ever recovered.

Car manufacturers have integrated multiple cameras in and aroundautomobiles, from rear-facing cameras which aid in parallel-parking toside-view mirrors to minimize blind-spots. As more and moreoutward-facing cameras are integrated throughout the body, significantopportunities exist to photo-stitch images at will, at pre-definedmoments or when other sensors communicate to the collective group ofcameras that there is an interest or need to do so. Such photos couldautomatically be uploaded to one's insurance carrier for purposes ofpreserving an accident scene. The opportunity further exists to buffersaid images in memory such that some number of images frames leading upto, for the duration of, and seconds thereafter, are captured andautomatically uploaded to the network for preservation and archivalpurposes.

In another embodiment, the system may be provided with a Breaking Newsfeature. Rather than being destined for a regular event, the system appdeployed on the capture hardware (e.g., a smartphone) is capable ofmarking an image to be uploaded as “urgent”. The system may then flagsuch events to human operators who will decide whether their urgencymeets requirements to be considered a breaking news event. Additionally,truly newsworthy images and video clips may be listed on a photoexchange where news organizations (such as AP, Reuters, UPI, Fox Newsand CNN) may be provided access to the media.

As an example of the breaking news feature, two users are sittingoutside at a café across from the Federal Reserve when a van pulls upand several armed, masked men exit. Both users launch their system app.User #1 proceeds to take X number of photos of the men running from thescene while User #2 takes a fifteen second video of the car making itsgetaway. A button within the app allows each of the users to designatetheir particular content as “BREAKING NEWS” before uploading same. Thiscontent is evaluated by human operators and determined to be fit for abreaking news event and/or directed to the media exchange accessible tonews gathering organizations. The system may also provide a mechanismallowing the content creator to participate in revenue sharing systemif/when their content is purchased.

Apps Running on Capture Devices

An application or “app” may be used on a device for capturing,uploading, and viewing images, and for interacting with the system. Forexample, an Android® or iOS™ application that could be deployed and usedon a mobile phone, or an Android® platformed camera. There are a widevariety of platforms for which applications may be developed anddeployed including other phone operating systems and digital cameraplatforms.

The constructed app allows the operator to interact with the system in away that facilitates the capture of images in a way useful to thesystem. For example, the app allows the user to “check-in” to an event,perhaps chosen from a personalized list of events local to the user andidentified by the user's current location as provided by the device.Upon “check-in” the application will capture available sensor data fromthe device to associate with each image as it is captured by an imagecapture application, such as a camera app, on the device. The sensordata will be translated into GPS coordinates and device orientationinformation which can then be translated into an image vector toidentify where the camera was pointing. This information can be used bythe system later for purposes as discussed further herein.

The application is capable of sending images captured with theassociated captured sensor data while the user is checked into an eventto the system over any available network connectivity available to thedevice. These images and data will be added to the event data for use asconfigured for the event by the event owner.

The application also allows the user to view events from the eventdatabase and all event related content as well as targeted advertisinggenerated by the system. Users are able to browse events and view eventimages and data on the device. Targeted advertising based on eventdetails and user profile data may be rendered commingled with event dataand images.

The application also allows users to interact with the system to createand edit events and associated event data. The application will providemethods for inputting information required to describe an event,leveraging GPS data from the device to set event coordinates whenpossible. The app communicates this information to the system over anetwork to allow the event data to be saved and made available to theuser population in the manner configured for the event. The applicationwill also allow users to like, share, comment, and perform other actionsagainst event image data through user interface methods provided on thedevice.

The application allows the user to interact with the system to createand edit personal profile data used by the system to personalize theuser experience. The app provides methods for providing personalinterests and other user information for use by the system to present tothe user events that may be of interest to the user, alerts on upcomingevents local to the user, and targeted advertising.

The application also provides the user with alert capabilities, topresent notifications for new content for already subscribed events ofinterest, the impending start of local and other events of interest, asdetermined by user profile and previous user interactions. Thesenotifications may be used to open events and view event data as well asto check-in to events.

The application is also enabled to display the user's home page andevents associated therewith, in addition to other events availablethrough the interface. The content may be displayed on the deviceitself, or may be wirelessly sent to display devices, such astelevisions, using known DLNA technology or the like, including AirPlayto an AppleTV device connected to a television.

Post-Upload Processing

The system may be made aware of the device which recorded the images,because images are tagged when uploaded to the server with informationregarding the device, date and time, location, and the like. Such taginformation may be provided by the device itself in many cases, however,where the device does not provide such tags, the user may elect todesignate particular devices with the users' profile on the system. Inthis way, the system knows that the images uploaded by such a user wereproduced by the device indicated in their profile.

The system may thus also be provided with programmed information abouthow best to enhance and otherwise optimize the images produced byparticular devices to produce superior images and extract the finestimage quality possible from such devices. Such enhancement may beautomatically applied to the images as they are uploaded to the site,although, to conserve processor power, the enhancement may be performedat later times, such as when the images are selected for output to aproduct.

Such digital enhancement of images is known to those of skill in theart, however, such enhancement techniques have not been appliedautomatically and for output to photographic products as contemplated bythe invention. Instead, such enhancement techniques have been used instandalone image manipulation programs. It is expected that a variety ofimage enhancement technology may be applied to the images gathered bythe system of the invention.

Such enhancement may be applied automatically upon upload, providedsufficient processing power, or may be applied only upon selection of animage for product output.

The invention may use any of a variety of image enhancement technology,such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,885,766, 6,954,549,7,020,330, 7,103,228, and US Patent Application 2004/0086176, each ofwhich is incorporated herein.

In another embodiment, and particularly where all images are enhanced asthey are uploaded to the database, the enhanced images may be providedto the arena's staff such that images may be shown in the displays inthe stadium. Additionally, enhanced images may be provided to wired andsatellite broadcasters for delivery to consumers as a stream to theircomputer screens, or televisions. Such delivery may take the form ofpicture-in-picture displays, or may be made available on additionalalternative channels.

Using GPS, date/time information, phone orientation at the time of imagecapture, and other data which is presently (or may at some future time)be included in an image's exif or metadata, the system has the abilityto identify relevant photos for purposes of photo-stitching. Theresulting high-resolution panoramic digital images may be viewed byusers, and may be output to printed or other physical products.

Events may also be based not on fixed or dynamically varying locations,but on the target of the images comprising the event. For example, anevent may be created and shared wherein a politician delivering a speechis followed after the speech for interviews, and all images uploadedduring a particular time frame, regardless of the actual location, areattached to the event. Similarly, a quarterback at a football game couldbe its own event, which includes images from the game itself as well aspost-game interviews.

Product Creation

Many devices store images on memory cards, such as CompactFlash, SD, andthe like. While users may transfer images directly from the capturedevice, where network connection speeds are not sufficiently rapid,users may prefer to simply transfer images to a computer for upload.Similarly, in one embodiment, users may bring their memory cards to anupload station or kiosk in an arena, which provides a suitable locationfor uploads for users. Such a kiosk may be an output producer, asdiscussed below, or may be an upload station designed merely for suchuploads.

In one embodiment, single photographs, of a variety of sizes, may bepurchased, or the user may select a plurality of photographs to bepresented in a photobook, or calendar, or the like, as a keepsake of theevent. Other products include greeting cards, postcards, posters, mugs,shirts, and many other products suitable for placement of a photograph.Such purchase instructs the system to direct a service provider tooutput professionally produced photographs in the format chosen by theuser. Where photographic products are desired, any suitable serviceprovider may be used, such as HP, Kodak, Shutterfly or Fujifilm.Additionally, where professional photographers also participate with thesystem, a user may opt to include such professional images individually,in an album, in a calendar, or the like. Such professional output may bepriced accordingly higher than the user's own photographs, or those ofother users attending the game.

In one embodiment, the output products are mailed to the user, so thatthe user receives the keepsake a day or two after the event hasconcluded. Alternatively, in another embodiment, the service providermaintains a production unit at the game venue, so that at the end of thegame, the user may purchase the output product immediately.

When the user selects images for output in a product, the user may bepresented with the enhanced versions of the chosen images, such that theuser can see a preview of the product with the digitally enhanced imagesalready prepared.

While the system of the invention contemplates application to a widevariety of major league sports events, it is equally applicable to localevents, school events, and organized youth sports. For example, where alittle league baseball league (or team) desires to use the system, pagesare constructed on the website and in mobile applications where userswho are members of the league may follow the league's games. At eachgame, users may upload photographs of the game, and, just as with majorleague events, users may purchase professionally produced photographs,albums, calendars, and the like. The system thus accomplishes severalobjectives: it allows users to obtain customized professionally producedphotographic products from their own images as well those of otherleague member users, professional photographers, and where available,cameras at the venue itself; it allows for viewing of such images onmobile devices as well as desktop computers, laptops, netbooks, tabletsand various other displays such as televisions and wireless pictureframes; and it may replace the need for teams to hire photographers forkeepsake photographs of the teams and players.

Users need not even be capturing their own images at the event, becauseusers will have access to images taken by other users, professionalphotographers, and venue cameras, from which to design and purchase aproduct.

In one embodiment of the invention, images uploaded by users are taggedby the users with a status, either private, to be held in the user'saccount alone, or public, to be shared with the community. The publicstatus may offer further granularity, in that it may be public to theevent's community, or public to the website as a whole.

With each event, the database archives all the images for the event,thereby allowing users to view the images and order products immediatelyafter the event, or days, months, even years later. The system grows asmore events are added to the database, so that entire seasons of eventsare available to users. Thus, users may “mix and match” to format theirdesired products. For example, a user may select twelve images fromdifferent events to create a calendar, with an image chosen for eachmonth.

A variety of templates may be made available on the system, but usersmay also save as templates products they create, and designate them aspublic in the same way photographs may be so designated, so that thecommunity shares in the creativity of its users. Such templates may beoffered to the public, or the system can be provided with a means foruser-created templates to be available to other users for a fee. Suchfee may be shared by the owner of the system with the user who createdthe template, thereby providing a mechanism by which users who createtemplates share in the benefits provided to the entire community.Further, the ability to track which/whose photos are used in thecreation of printed photo products allows the system to also compensatecontributors for their content.

Other embodiments, uses, and advantages of the present invention will beapparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of thespecification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. Thespecification and examples should be considered exemplary only. Theintended scope of the invention is only limited by the claims appendedhereto.

EXAMPLES

The present invention will be further understood by reference to thefollowing non-limiting Examples. For purposes of these Examples, thesystem of the invention has been provided with a name, to with,PicPocket™

Example 1 An Embodiment of the Invention, as Applied to a NationalSporting Event

Each user may customize their copy of the installed mobile PicPocket™app on their device for listings of events taking place within aparticular geographic radius, a time frame, by user or by keyword. Inthis example, football fan users have registered, and installed thePicPocket™ app on their iPhones®, Android® devices and Blackberrys®. Theapp lists events fitting the set criteria, and the user may tap theitems listed for further information. Users may also access the serverfor searching for events based on type of event, organization, dates,geographic locations, and other relevant criteria. Coming within close(or user defined) proximity of an event, or at nearing the starting timeof an event, having specified a previous interest in being alerted tosaid events, the system app may alert a user to the fact that an eventis or will be taking place. The ability to purchase tickets or getdirections to said event would be possible given the current system.

In this Example, registered PicPocket™ users attend a football game,such as the Philadelphia Eagles versus the Dallas Cowboys at LincolnFinancial Field in Philadelphia. Upon arrival at the stadium, the usersfind their way to their seats and get ready for the game by launchingthe application previously installed on their mobile phones, such asiPhones®, Android® devices and Blackberrys®. The PicPocket™ applaunches, and each user is presented with a screen customized withinformation relevant to their user accounts. For those users whopreviously identified either the Eagles or the Cowboys as a team tofollow, an alert appears informing them that there is a game about totake place. For those whose GPS units are activated, for example, thePicPocket™ system recognizes that they are in fact at the game.

The users take photographs during the game, (which are either uploadedin real-time or saved to be uploaded at some future time), anddesignating each photograph (individually, as a group of images or intotal) as private or public. Upon upload, the system determines thelocation from which the photograph was taken based on the location tagsfound in the digital image file, if present. Date and time stampinformation, also found in tags in the file, are also collected by thesystem. The model of mobile device taking the photograph is also eithertagged in the digital photographic files, or is input by the user aspart of the user account or entered upon launching of the application onthe device. Handset orientation at the instant of photo capture may alsooptionally be captured for purposes of further delineating what the userwas interested in photographing.

The PicPocket™ system is aware of the device which recorded the images,and thus may optimize the images, extracting the finest image qualitypossible from such devices.

In the case of devices having tappable touchscreen interfaces, theapplication has tappable areas to review images already taken, thoseuploaded, those designated private and those designated public. Anothertappable area links to photographs taken by other users at the game,showing thumbnails of others' public photographs. The name of the userwho uploaded the photograph may (or may not) be listed below eachthumbnail. Tapping on the thumbnail opens a page showing all publicphotographs uploaded by that user. Each photograph has a tappable areawhich the user can tap to save it for use in photographic products to bepurchased later. Each image may also be rated by the users, allowing foran additional tappable area which leads to the most highly rated images.While the basic operation of the application has been described for atouchscreen interface, other interfaces may be employed which rely onselection with buttons or the like.

An indicator may be present in one area of the screen showing how manyother users are using the system at an event. Another tappable area canbe tapped to bring up a schematic view of the stadium, with indicatorsshowing where other uploading users are located.

Users continue to take images, and upload them to the system.Additionally, professional photographers take and upload images, bothimages of the game itself as well as images of particular users, taggedwith the users' name, location, or other data tag capable of indicatingwhich user was imaged. The stadium also has cameras trained on the gameand the seats, and in cooperation with the owner of the system of theinvention, and optionally for a fee, these cameras are pointed atregistered users throughout the game, capturing images and uploadingthem to the system with a tag indicating which user was imaged. Thesystem is then able to associate all images of any particular user withthat users' account, and thus provide all images a user may beinterested in when the user reviews images for purchase of products.

Personalized photographic products may be created through the mobiledevice application using a variety of templates made available to theapplication, as well as personalized templates created by the user,whether such templates have been created on the web and sent to thedevice by the server's front end, or even created on the mobile deviceitself through a feature of the application. In some embodiments of thisexample, a user may offer a personalized photographic product for saleto any others in the network, for which that user would receive apercentage of such sales. Such transactions may be handled by thesystem.

Some users may decide to order products during the game, for example, aT-shirt with a favorite image already captured by the user or anotheruser, a coffee mug with such an image, or a photobook. Other users maywait until they get home to review the events' images on the website,and prepare a more formal photobook. Either way, the purchase choicesare made, payment information is entered, and the transaction proceeds.The system directs products to be created by third party vendors fromthe images chosen by the user, however, the images are first enhancedsuch that maximum quality images are used for the production of suchproducts. Products are then prepared and shipped to the users' homewithin a few days.

An additional element of the system includes the ability to createproducts at the event itself from the image database of the system. Forexample, a photographic product company has a kiosk at the stadium, andis enabled to print T-shirts, mugs, enlargement photographs, andoptionally calendars, photobooks, and other products. The kiosk also hasa computer connected to the internet, such that registered users withmemory cards may upload to the system at any time, and such that thekiosk has access to the images in the database.

Users who order product items may select to have the items printed atthe stadium, for a fee which may be different from the fee charged foritems produced and shipped to their homes. Thus, one user orders anenlargement of a favorite image taken during the first quarter, andduring halftime he proceeds to the kiosk where he picks up theenlargement. Another user orders a T-shirt just before halftime, andpicks up the T-shirt later during the game. In either case, the imagesmay have been enhanced such that maximum quality images are used toprepare the end products.

Example 2 An Embodiment of the System Applied to a Local Sporting Event

AYSO soccer Team A and Team F are set to play on a certain date and timeon a field known in advance. Before PicPocket™, some number of parentsfrom both teams who ordinarily took photos of their sons and daughtersthroughout the game, would have to be constantly running the length ofthe field to get the best shots possible. At the request of anotherparent (stranger or friend), these same parents may have been asked toshare those same photos after the game—accomplished by either uploadingthem to an Internet service such as Flickr or emailing them directly tothe individual(s) who requested them—but whose request, more thanlikely, would have been ignored or forgotten. At half-time when theteams switched sides, this same parent may have either been advantagedor disadvantaged depending on which side of the field their child wasnow playing on. With PicPocket™, a parent wants to tell another parentfrom both Team A and Team F about the service and the app because itensures that with more people taking pictures at the same live event,the likelihood that each of the parents get better pictures of theirchildren increases substantially. Worth noting is that the capabilityexists such that if the game has to be moved from one field to another,following being set up as an event ahead of time with a specific date,time and GPS coordinates, the PicPocket™ system easily moves the GPSenvelope to accommodate the new field by adjusting the game's GPSparameters in the event database, by taking into effect the location ofPicPocket™ users on both Teams A and F. Parents will have the ability todecide which photos they upload and settings associated with theuploads, which can be set by default or change on an event-by-eventbasis.

Example 3 An Embodiment of the System Applied to a Concert

A concert attendee is alerted to the fact that either one of theirfavorite bands, or a band which PicPocket's™ use of predictiveintelligence decides is similar, is playing at a nearby venue. Theconcert is an event in PicPocket's™ event database. PicPocket™ users areable to purchase tickets for the concert and map directions to the venuein addition to seeing which of their PicPocket™ friends may or may notattend. At the concert, a PicPocket™ user with backstage passes has acompletely different photo experience than someone at the foot of thestage, or from someone in box seats overlooking the stage, or someoneperched in the balcony. Yet all PicPocket™ users attending the event andcapturing images, and uploading them to the system, are able to enjoyall the different perspectives because the event page for the concert ispopulated with pictures captured by many users throughout the venue.

Example 4 An Embodiment of the System Applied to a Municipal Event

The PicPocket system was deployed live for three days at the Austin CityLimits outdoor music festival in October 2012. In addition todesignating a catch-all GPS zone to cover all of Zilker Park, separate,and in most cases, mutually exclusive GPS hotpsots, were establishedaround the GPS coordinates of the individual stages where bandsperformed. Every photo that was taken during the event by a PicPocket™user, and within the GPS envelope of Zilker Park, was linked to thecatch-all event/repository. Likewise, photos which were taken within thedesignated proximity of any of the individual stages were also linked tothose particular stages/events.

Example 5 An Embodiment of the System Applied to Real Estate and OtherRelocation Services

A realtor may ask a potential client (i.e., a home buyer) to describewhat they are looking for in a neighborhood—from a home's proximity toschools, parks, medical facilities, etc. to certain price-points. Arealtor may use this information to identify homes using a system suchas MLS, and then designate said homes to be included in a dashboard viewof properties that can be searched, sorted, Liked, commented on andshared like any other “event” within the PicPocket™ system. The realtyapplication will identify where individual properties are located on anonline map alongside other PicPocket™ events which may or may not havebeen selected based on a user's stated PicPocket™ Profile interests.

Example 6 An Embodiment of the System Applied to a User-Created “Owned”Personal Event with Controlled Access

A father decides to use PicPocket™ to aggregate images of a birthdayparty for his ten year old son. The father launches the PicPocket™ appand selects the ‘Create Event’ option, designating the event type as‘birthday’ and setting the date, start time and duration. He uses hishandset to name the event “Timmy's 10^(th) birthday” and walks outsideto the middle of his backyard and chooses ‘Set Location.’ Aided by a map(GoogleMaps or other), he draws a perimeter around his home in free formmode or uses a slider bar to increase the radius around the point wherehe is standing until such time that he feels that he has adequatelyencompassed the area where the event will take place. Once he commitsthe GPS coordinates and the resulting proximity envelope, he is promptedto invite attendees from his smart phone's address book and socialnetwork lists. A separate email is sent to him (and/or others he maydesignate) with a web interface that allows them to continue to refinethe Invite list from their handset, tablet or PC. The email or SMSinvite notes that “Timmy's 10^(th) birthday” is a PicPocket™ supportedevent and may provide a description of PicPocket™ and a link to downloadthe app.

The day of the birthday party, the PicPocket™ app reminds attendees ofthe event. The app may provide directions to the event. Once someone whohas the app on their phone comes within some distance of the GPScoordinates for the event, the app wakes up and may ask a user if theywould like to confirm attendance at said event. Once users are withinthe GPS envelope, images are tagged as belonging to the PicPocket™system's “Timmy's 10^(th) birthday” event, and in keeping with the app'ssettings, images will either directly upload to the designated onlinedirectory belonging to said event, or users will be able to choose whichphotos to send on a case-by-case basis by selecting them from within theapp. If a user has previously configured the PicPocket™ app to onlyupload when a Wi-Fi signal is present, while they may still be able todesignate which photos to upload and which to keep Private, the actualupload will be delayed until a Wi-Fi signal is available.

For individuals who show up to the event without a prior Invite, theEvent creator can provide them with a passcode that provides visibilityand access to the “Timmy's 10^(th) birthday” event. The passcode willonly be valid when the user is within the GPS envelope during thedate/time of the on-going event. Similarly, a parent who does not have asmart phone, or who prefers instead to use a DSLR camera, would alsoneed this same passcode and another identifier in order to log in laterto be able to upload images which may or may not have been date and timestamped and which are missing GPS coordinate information. As Inviteescommit their images to the event in real-time or shortly thereafter,Timmy's parents have the ability to choose which photos from the richcontent pool specific to the birthday event to share with all of theindividuals invited to, or who participated in, the event.

Example 7 An Embodiment of the System Applied to a DynamicallyLocation-Based Event(s) Using GPS, and Also Including the Option ofNon-Regular (i.e., Noncircular) Regions

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual three hour event held inNYC attended by nearly four million people and viewed by over 50 millionworldwide. In recent times, the parade kicks off at 77^(th) Street andCentral Park West in Manhattan and continues south to Columbus Circlewhere it turns east onto 59^(th) Street then south down Sixth Avenue to34th Street, making its final stop at Macy's Herald Square—a nearlythree miles long journey.

Between areas restricted from public viewing and the sheer enormity ofthe parade route, no one individual can expect to get the best photos ofthe event by simply maintaining their position along the parade route,regardless of their vantage point.

The picture of Kermit the Frog with Columbus Circle as a backdrop is anenviable photo, but a picture of Superman and Hello Kitty tangled up inhigh winds across from Macy's Herald Square would be just asinteresting. If you're standing outside braving November weather to takephotos of this event, you're clearly very interested in all thegoings-on of this event.

PicPocket's™ coverage of the Macy's Day Parade begins with creation ofthe event in the event database, and establishes a GPS envelope toinclude an area encompassing a specified width to the left and right ofthe center of the parade route so that pictures from anywhere along theparade route could be made available in real-time to users subscribingto the event.

Example 8 An Embodiment of the System Using Targeted Advertising in anyEvent

PicPocket's™ ability to target internet advertising to the specificinterests of both its users as well as companies desiring to generateimpressions or actual sales is focused on, but not limited to, threemain areas: 1) Promotion and Sponsorship of events, 2) Affiliate ProductSales and 3) what is commonly known as Internet ads. In the case of item(1), since PicPocket™ is able to intercept all the photos taken at alive event before they are sent anywhere else, and because the communityof PicPocket™ is able to rate the photos, the best photos of any event(for purposes of this Example, the Superbowl) rise to the top of theevent bucket. Having collected some number of the best photos of thecheerleaders, the mascots, the tailgating parties, the crushing tackles,the half-time show and all the antics happening in the stands and on thefield (to name just a few areas of interest), brands with an interestpromoting themselves at big ticket events or events which are related totheir marketing spend or business development activities will want theirbrands prominently displayed at the top of the event in question just asthe big brands spend $4 million per thirty-second ad on networktelevision.

PicPocket's™ coverage of Superbowl XLVII led PicPocket™ to intersperseproduct ads relevant to: the event itself (Superbowl), the teams whowere competing (San Francisco 49'ers, Baltimore Ravens), and the generalitems of interest with regard to the sport of football, the NFL, andmajor league sports in general. Product ads were created which linked toan e-commerce storefront's API (in this case, Amazon) for such licensedNFL branded products as official team jerseys, helmets, footballs, andcollectibles/memorabilia.

Example 9 An Embodiment of the System Using Perspectives from Time andSpace

PicPocket™ has the capability to use a point in space and time to searchfor photos. With each photo the system has its position when taken andits orientation so it can determine if a point is in the field of view.Using this information, a 360 degree view of a point in time may becreated that allows a user to use drag controls to see all angles. Thecontrol could allow zoom and individual photos could be zoomed to matchthe perspective and distance to the object/scene. For example, acontroversial play in an NFL game presents an opportunity to explore thespecific point and time it took place, search for and display all therelevant photos and/or videos from a variety of perspectives, and dragand zoom to see all angle/details available.

Additionally, a user could view all of the images of a given perspectivetaken across time. The user employs a timeline/scroll/progress bar todrag the temporal perspective across all available values for a givenview. For example, all of the images taken from a general area in thestands of Yankees stadium from a single game may be aggregated, and thenstitched together to form an ersatz movie. Zoom of individual imagestaken along the same vector could be used to fill in any gaps created asa result of missing photos from the particular location.

As the PicPocket™ system gathers more and more data from a givenlocation (e.g., Yankee stadium), information from that location may beused as a reference to geotag images missing such information, allowingPicPocket™ to process content created before GPS technology was widespread.

The PicPocket™ system may also use similar images taken at approximatelythe same time and along the same vector to create higher quality imagesthan any of the source images. Additionally, photo-stitching softwaremay be used to create ultra high resolution photos of famous locationsby crowdsourcing all of the individual images. The PicPocket™ app mayinform the user in real time where to position and aim the camera inorder to fill in missing areas, and may offer incentives to users tofill in such missing pieces. The PicPocket™ app may be equipped with afeature called ‘group photo’. At a pivotal moment in the game, or at arandom time, PicPocket™ system sends smart phones at an event amessage/prompt to let users know that in five-four-three-two-one seconds. . . HOLD YOUR PHONE IN THE AIR AND POINT IT AT CENTER FIELD! Agroup-photo from every imaginable seat (angle/perspective) in the venue,all at the same time, that may be photo-stitched together for a 2D or 3Dmodel. Users can opt in or out to be alerted by PicPocket™ or toparticipate in group photos.

Example 10 An Embodiment of the Invention Using Encryption

In most digital photos, GPS information and other metadata such as time,orientation, altitude, etc., are typically stored in a standardized,unencrypted format in the photo's exif data. An advantage of this lackof encryption is that the data captured and stored by one device can beread by another, unrelated device. The disadvantage is that the userstoring that data has no control over who can read, share, and use thispotentially private information. For example, a user might want to shareseveral pictures from her vacation without revealing to everyone whosees them exactly where and when the pictures were taken. To solve thisproblem, the system may allow users to save GPS and other relevant datawith the photo in such a way that the system will still able toaggregate these photos by time and location while keeping this privateinformation private.

One technique is to store the data as an encrypted string as part of thephoto's unencrypted exif data. Someone viewing the photo on anotherdevice might see there was encrypted data stored with the photo, butwithout the proper decryption information, they would not be able toview the private information.

Another, more secure approach to hiding private information in a photowould be to store that data inside the image itself in such a way thatno one viewing or examining the photo would know private information wasthere at all.

In addition to storing GPS and other relevant metadata with the photo ina private, secure manner, the system may use similar techniques tointentionally hide secret text or audio messages and promotions insidephotos and ask users to hunt for the secret message by examining aseries of photos with a virtual magnifying glass. Users who were able todecode the secret messages would be entitled to a reward such as free ordiscounted products or services.

Example 11 An Embodiment of the Invention Using Target Based Events

While many events are time and place focused, as discussed above thereare static “Landmark events” which focus on a particular placeirrespective of the time. But events may also be target specific, suchas an event based on an individual, such as a politician, or acelebrity, or a sports figure.

The present invention is not to be limited in scope by the specificembodiments described above, which are intended as illustrations ofaspects of the invention. Functionally equivalent methods and componentsare within the scope of the invention. Indeed, various modifications ofthe invention, in addition to those shown and described herein, willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoingdescription. Such modifications are intended to fall within the scope ofthe appended claims. All cited references are hereby incorporated byreference.

We claim:
 1. A system for event networking comprising: a) a serverhaving an event database of events, the events having a time window anda GPS location; and b) a plurality of users having access to the eventdatabase, wherein the system aggregates media uploaded by the users atan event into an event page, and the event is controllably accessible tousers such that the images in an event page are viewable by all usershaving access thereto.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the systemaggregates media based on parameters including the time window and theGPS location of the media.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein the media isselected from the group consisting of images, video, and audio.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein the time window is specified with a start timeand an end time, or with a start time and duration, or with an end timeand duration.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein the GPS locationcomprises GPS coordinates and a proximity envelope around the GPScoordinates, whereby the GPS location encompasses all GPS coordinateswithin the envelope.
 6. The system of claim 5 wherein the proximityenvelope is a circle with a radius having a specified length.
 7. Thesystem of claim 5 wherein the proximity envelope is irregular.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein events are selected from the group consistingof: events entered into the event database by an operator of the system,and events created by the users.
 9. The system of claim 1 wherein thesystem provides users the ability to customize a home page, the homepage comprising at least one event.